Jeevika: Law, Liberty & Livelihood campaign facilitated a mass demonstration along with Heritage City Thadi-Thela Union in Jaipur on December 22, 2010. Hundreds of street vendors mainly from Sodala, Collectorate Circle and Viashali Nagar area of Jaipur gathered at the Jaipur Municipal Corporation headquarter and sat down on Dharna under the leadership of Udai Singh Rathore (former MLA-Jaipur), Nathu Singh Rathore (President, Street Vendors Joint Front), Banwari Lal Sharma (Heritage City Thadi- Thela Union) demanding early implementation of street vendors policy in the city.

Addressing the street vendors Mr. Amit Chandra said, “The Government of India drafted a policy for street vendors in 2004 and sent to the Rajasthan government for implementation in the state. The Rajasthan Government also drafted a policy named ‘Pheriwalo Ka Sansar’ in 2007 which is implemented in the state till date. It has been three years but the Jaipur Municipal Corporation has not implemented the policy as yet. We need to put pressure on the Jaipur Municipal Corporation with constant such mass demonstrations to bring the Corporation in the functioning mode.”

Mr. Uday Singh Rathore said, “The municipal officers have vested interest in not implementing the provisions of the policy in Jaipur. Lack of legal recognition of the street vendors makes them vulnerable to the development authorities which consequences into the huge extortion by the authorities from the poor”

Mr Nathu Singh Rathore said, “Street vendors are open for all sorts of harassment from authorities. They are being evicted everyday by the authorities for no reason and the poor vendors who were making their livelihood on the street and taking care of their family are on the verge of starvation.”

Mr. Banwari Lal Sharma said, “The officers of Municipal Corporation have never been sensitive towards the issue of street vendors. They are never seen as service providers and constantly harassed. The Jaipur Development Authority built kiosks which were allotted to the people with political and bureaucratic connections and not to the genuine street vendors. The municipal corporation had started survey of the street vendors and that too was stopped in the initial phase itself”

Vidyadhar Bhimsaraiya, Basant Haryana and many other representatives of several other street vendors union also participated in the mass demonstrated. At the end of the demonstration a group of representatives met the Chief Executive Officer and the Additional Commissioner (Head Quarter) to discuss the issues of street vendors and handed over a memorandum.

Here are some pictures of the demonstration:

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Thousand of street vendors from across Rajasthan marched to State Secretariat on September 30 on the streets of Jaipur demanding passing of long awaited Bill on Urban Street Vendors in the State Assembly and early implementation in the state. The bill would ensure protection of livelihood of more than 1 million urban street vendors and will regulate street markets of Rajasthan. Sep 30, being the day of decision on Ayodhya issue it was tough to organize any sort of gathering but the vendor groups were so committed that they wanted the Rally to be taken out on any cost. Bravo to Rahima Sheikh of SEWA who could mobilize many Muslim women to participate in the Rally which made the rally very harmonious.

A delegation of street vendors’ representative from different cities of the state and associated NGOs also presented a memorandum to the Chief Minister Mr. Ashok Gehlot at the end of the Rally urging implementation of the legislation.

The occasion also marked end of 15 day long awareness campaign on the model legislation for street vendors through Rath (Bus) in the state which was flagged off from Jaipur on September 15. The Rath campaigned in mainly in Jaipur, Udaipur, Bikaner, Kota, Jalore, Ajmer and other on rout cities of the state.

Centre for Civil Society has been running ‘Jeevika: Law, Liberty & Livelihood’ campaign in entire Rajasthan state. Under the campaign the organization in association with National Association of Street Vendors of India held a state level Rally and Mass Demonstration of street vendors of the sate on today. Hundreds of street vendor unions from Jaipur, Udaipur, Bikaner, Kota, Jalore, Ajmer and other cities of the state closed their market and participated in the event.

The Rally started at 11 AM from Geeta Ashram, Sodala to proceed for Udyog Bhawan (Statue Circle). The Rally and was addressed by Mr Arbind Singh (National Association of Street Vendors of India), Mr Nathu Singh Rathore (Street Vendor Leader Jaipur), Ghanshyam Kotwani (Street Vendor Leader Jaipur) Mr Uday Singh Rathore (former MLA of Jaipur), Mr Omprakash Devda (Street Vendor leader Jodhpur), Mrs Raheema Shiekh (Self Employed Women Association), Ms Archana Srivastava from (Heinemann Charitable Mission Society), Mr Ranjit Abhigyan from (National Association of Street Vendors of India) and many more street vendor leaders.

Oct 1 in Media i Oct 1 in Media ii Press Release Sep 30 Memmorandum

We organised Mass Mobilization and Awareness Campaign in entire Rajasthan with help from National Association of Street Vendors of India. We got a Rath (Bus) equipped with all campaign and publicity material. We organised 15 day tour of the Rath from September 15 to 30 throughout Rajasthan to make hawkers aware of National Policy on Street Vendors, adopted by the Government of India. The main purpose of the Campaign Rath is to make street vendors across state aware of their rights and might and to arouse them to march to Jaipur on 30 September for a rally and demonstration before the Rajasthan Chief Minister Office. The proposed Rally will demand immediate enactment of legislation for the vulnerable population of street vendors. Here is the route map as well as the schedule of the campaign:

Route Map and Rath Schedule

• Abhiyan Rath reached Jaipur on 15 Sept morning
• It was flagged off around 12 noon on 15 Sept and afterwards it covered areas of Jaipur
• It reached Ajmer on 16 Sept and 17 Sept
• It reached Udaipur on 18 Sept
• It reached Jodhpur on 19 Sept and 20 Sept
• 21 Sept was a leisure day
• It reached Bikaner on 22 Sept
• It moved to other areas on demand from 23-24 Sept
• It reached Sikar on 25 Sept
• It returned to Jaipur on 26 Sept
• It had several mass meetings from 27-30 Sep in Jaipur
• Rally and Mass Demonstration on 30 Sept

Here are some pictures of the Rath:

We organized a press conference at 1.30 PM in Pink City Press Club, Narayan Singh Circle, today (September 28, Tuesday). The press conference was a success. There were more than 20 media people and many representatives of street vendors’ union in the conference.

To address the press conference we had Mrs Raheema Shiekh from Self Employed Women Association, Ms Archana Srivastava from Heinemann Charitable Mission Society, Mr Nathu Singh Rathore from Jaipur Mahanagar Thadi Thela Vyavasayi Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti, Mr Ghanshyam Kotwani from Jaipur Mahanagar Thadi Thela Vyavasayi Union and Mr Ranjit Abhigyan from National Association of Street Vendors of India.

Here are some pictures and press release of the conference:

Press Release

There was a rally taken out in Sep 2009 demanding implementation of national policy/bill in Rajasthan which is going to complete one year and the slow moving bureaucracy hasn’t yielded anything so far. Jeevika campaign is coordinating a huge state level Rally and Mass Demonstration in Jaipur on Thursday, September 30 in demand of implementing the draft bill on street vendors in Rajasthan. The Rally is scheduled to start at 11 AM from Geeta Ashram, Sodala and will proceed for Statue Circle, Secretariat. At the end of the Rally a group of street vendor representatives would meet the Chief Minister of Rajasthan and give a memorandum to pass the draft bill in Rajasthan Assembly and implement in the state.

Please join us in huge number to make the Rally effective. We request you to spread the information of the Rally in your contact and help us making it impactful.

Jeevika: Law, Liberty & Livelihood Campaign organised fourth Mass Mobilization Activity in Jaipur on Wednesday, September 08, 2010. This activity was organised near Birla Temple and Temple of Moti Dungari. Being Wednesday, a day for people to visit lord Ganesh in Moti Dungari temple, the place witnesses a huge crowed. We took the advantage and decided to hold the activity and attract a the big crowd coming to Moti dungari Temple. We started the activity at 4 PM with a street play which got attention of the crowed. People were touched by the scenes and situations created in the play and got engaged in a small discussion immediately after the play. Ravinder Singh ‘Babbu’, the local leader of street vendors near the temple who sale Pav-Bhaji and other eatables helped us conducting the activity. Amit Gond, Campaign Associate and the local street vendor leaders addressed the crowd. There were more than 100 people who joined us watching the play and understanding/discussing the issue. Here are a few pictures of the activity:

CCS organised third Mass Mobilization Activity in Jaipur on Wednesday, August 25. We conducted this activity at Khirni Phatak, Jhotwara with help from ‘Jaipur Mahanagar Thadi Thela Footpath Vyavasayi Union’. There is a weekly market at Khirni Phatak on every Wednesday and we chose to conduct the activity to make street vendors as well as common masses aware of the policy for urban street vendors. There were above 80 people watching the street play and participating in the discussion after the play. The play presented the daily life problems of street vendors & solutions. It connected with people well which created ground for healthy discussion. We also distribute pamphlets about the policy and talked about the provisions of the policy and how this can be one solution to all the problems of street vendors. We got senior street vendor leader Mr. Banwari Lal Sharma and Mr. Parmanand Salodia to participate in the activity and address the crowd. The audience was engaged and we urged them to participate on planned rally on September 30.